From: hekunze@barrow.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze)
Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 03/06
Date: 1997/03/07
Message-ID:
X-Deja-AN: 223700895
Sender: news@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca (news spool owner)
Organization: University of Waterloo
Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling
[Wrestling TidBits]
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Pictures of The Week
[Image]
The wonderful Manami Toyota is again the focus of this week's pictures.
Enjoy.
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[ - ] [ RAW ] this week featured a tape of the Berlin, Germany, card that
crowned the first WWF European Champion. The show had lots of screwy
finishes, something that has sadly become a hallmark of both the WWF and
WCW in 1997. Thankfully, they had a wonderfully clean finish in the main
event, when Davey Boy Smith reversed a roll-up by Owen Hart to capture the
European Title tournament final in a darn good match.
[ - ] People who have asked me to include weekly comments on Monday Nitro
should know that in my neck of the woods (Ontario, Canada) we don't
get to see Nitro until the following Sunday (and that's an abridged one
hour version). This makes it difficult to have timely comments. When TBS
starts carrying the new two-hour, mid-week WCW show in the near future,
I'll be able to offer current commentary.
[ - ] Yuji Nagata is finally ready to work in WCW.
[Image] [ - ] On this past week's Galavision TV show (perhaps an extra week
old; a Toronto station broadcasts the Galavision tapes), they started
an interpromotional feud between the WWF and AAA. The WWF
representatives on the show were Jake Roberts (who has a history with the
promotion), Diesel, and Razor Ramon. Obviously, that trio didn't mesh well
with the Mexican trio. I guess people may have been a bit quick to discard
both these wrestlers from the WWF (rumours had the history), particularly
Razor Ramon, who was thought to be out after his incredibly weak Royal
Rumble showing. The Observer reports that they are dropped from the WWF
except for in Mexico.
[ - ] I mentioned it here last week and now the Observer offers the
details. Ken Shamrock has signed a three-year, $1-million contract
with the WWF. At the three-year mark, the WWF has the option to renew the
contract for an additional three years, but Ken has no option to shop
himself around. Obviously, Ken was in an incredibly interesting position:
New Japan wanted him and would let him continue with UFCs, UFC wanted to
keep him and would allow him to work New Japan if he was never booked to
lose, WWF wanted him and wouldn't let him work anything else, WCW wanted to
meet with him. The WWF deal was for the most guaranteed money, but it also
required the most travel.
Ken is already being added to the mix as special referee in the Bret Hart vs.
Steve Austin submission match at WrestleMania.
The WWF has tried to use wrestlers with "legitimate" gimmicks before. Most
notably, Kama was pushed as the ultimate fighting machine in a gimmick that
didn't work. Alex Porteau was recently used an amateur wrestler crossing
over to the pros in another failed gimmick. It will be interesting to see
what the WWF does with Ken, who has limited experience working pro-style.
[ - ] The Observer reports that Shawn Michaels still has five years left in
his WWF contract, so any talk of him going to WCW is extremely
unlikely. Obviously, the career-ending knee injury story line was an
exaggeration. The suggestion is that Michaels cracked under the pressure of
not succeeding at the level that the company expected; fickle fans turned
on him when he really hadn't changed noticeably.
[ - ] There has been some talk in the newsgroup about All Japan wrestlers
appearing on the 04/29/97 major FMW show at Yokohama Arena. As
mentioned here weeks back, Giant Baba and Atsushi Onita did meet in a
hotel. This is all the fans in Japan have been told until this week. Giant
Baba announced that All Japan wrestlers would not work in an FMW ring, but
that he was going to use Hayabusa once on 04/02/97 against an as yet
unnamed opponent. There's no hope of that one opponent being somebody in
the upper echelon, since those guys will be involved in the yearly Champion
Carnival. Baba also said that some other FMW wrestlers could appear in the
All Japan ring. There are likely those that see this as the beginning of an
angle that will lead to interpromotional matches on 04/29, but Baba has
always been a straight shooter who avoids that style of angle. On 02/18,
the Gladiator challenged Atsushi Onita to face him in the 04/29 main event.
[Image] [ - ] The Observer writes about the ECW appearance on RAW: "Even
though the ECW segments didn't play well on WWF television, they blew
away what the WWF offered with most of its big names in Germany. [...]
But there is no question that the appearance, even if it was a letdown in many
ways, was a positive for ECW in that more people saw the product than ever
before and they were allowed to plug their PPV. It is both amazing and
mind-boggling to see a television show four weeks before WrestleMania have
more hype for a supposed rival promotion's PPV than for their own biggest
show of the year. Still, ECW came off as a minor league promotion on
big-time television since Vince McMahon didn't even know who the wrestlers
are and when the fan at home sees that arguably the most powerful man in
the industry and the voice they recognize in wrestling doesn't even know or
seem to much care about these guys, how important can they be? The positive
of the segment was the work of Jerry Lawler, who as the heel foil to Paul
Heyman, was nothing short of phenomenal in his knocks of the prodcut as a
heel putting it over. The irony is that Lawler truly does hate Heyman and
ECW but as a pro put his job in front of his personal feelings."
[ - ] WCW has Uncensored on 03/16/97. Tentative line-up includes:
* Team NWO vs. Team Piper vs. Team Sting for the WCW & WCW Tag Titles in
some sort of gimmick match
* Eddy Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko for the US Title in a no DQ match
* Rey Misterio Jr. vs Prince Iaukea for the TV Title
* Syxx vs. Ultimo Dragon for the Cruiserweight Title
* Jeff Jarrett & Steve McMichael vs. Public Enemy in a briefcase on a
pole match
* Marcus Bagwell vs. Scotty Riggs
* Glacier vs. Mortis in a martial arts match
While there are a few good matches on the undercard, it's incredible that
WCW seemingly ingores past failures and just plods ahead with similar
stuff. We've seen this with the World War III three-ring battle royal that
is just unmanageable for PPV. The main event above is surely going to end
up as muddled and incomprehensible as last year's Uncensored main event.
And why, oh why, have another martial arts match?
[Image] [ - ] The WWF has WrestleMania on 03/23/97. Tentative line-up features:
* Sid vs. Undertaker for the WWF Title
* Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart vs. Vader & Mankind for the WWF Tag
Titles
* Rocky Maivia vs. The Sultan for the IC Title
* Faarooq & Crush & Savio Vega vs. Ahmed Johnson & Legion of Doom
in a Chicago street fight
* Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Goldust
* Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon vs. Headbangers vs. Blackjacks vs.
Godwinns
There is already talk that both teams will split in the tag title match.
There's little explanation for the Sultan getting an IC title shot, isn't
there?
[ - ] I was asked to talk a bit about Phil LaFon & Doug Furnas. The first
thought that any fan of All Japan will have when thinking about Dan
Kroffat (Phil's ring name in the promotion) & Doug Furnas is their classic
***** match against Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi for the All Asian Tag
Titles on 05/25/92. The final 13 minutes or so of the match aired on TV.
Kroffat & Furnas were defending the secondary tag titles. Here's the match
call. Forgive the punctuation and "bullet" presentation at times, but I
want to capture the intensity of the match and the quickness of the moves.
Watch the match time as you go and consider how much happens in short
intervals.
Joined in progress, Furnas gets a two count on Kikuchi. I don't have an
actual match time, but they look like they've been going for a while. My
impression is that we join the match after a solid ten-or-more minutes of
building and that Kikuchi has been taking a beating most recently; he's
incredible at acting wobbly. Furnas lifts Kikuchi and press slams him over
the top rope to the floor. Kroffat runs in, elbows Kobashi, who's on the
apron, and pulls him into the ring, while Furnas goes out after Kikuchi.
Kroffat snap mares Kobashi and dumps him out over the top rope. This keeps
Kobashi from saving Kikuchi, who gets press slammed onto the commentators'
table by Furnas. (1:00) Crowd goes nuts chanting "Ki-ku-chi!" Kikuchi gets
back into the ring, Furnas bearhugs him, lifting Kikuchi right off the mat.
Kroffat comes off the top with a flying clothesline, immediately charging
Kobashi and nailing him, while Furnas goes for the jack knife pin. 1, 2,
kickout. Crowd rumbles. Furnas slams Kikuchi, tags Kroffat. Kroffat puts on
a deep Boston crab, bending Kikuchi like a pretzel. "Ki-ku-chi! Ki-ku-chi!"
Kikuchi reaches ropes. Kroffat hits a dazzling snap suplex, picks up
Kikuchi and hits a second one, picks up an ever-groggier Kikuchi and hits a
third one. 1, 2, Kobashi saves. Kroffat puts on a side headlock, but
Kikuchi counters with a back suplex. Big crowd pop. Kikuchi starts to crawl
for the tag, Kroffat grabs his hair, rolls to his corner, dragging groggy
Kikuchi with him, tags Furnas. Furnas whips Kikuchi into the ropes, hits a
tilt-a-whirl salto slam. 1, 2, kickout. Furnas puts on the deep Boston
crab. It looks impressive because Furnas is so built. Kobashi comes in,
kicks Furnas in the head, twice, Furnas starts to release. As Kobashi turns
to leave, Furnas re-applies the crab with vigour, Kobashi stops, turns and
slaps Furnas broadside, Furnas crumbles, releases hold. Kroffat & Furnas
switch without tagging. (4:00) Kroffat hoists Kikuchi across his shoulders,
forward fallaway slam. 1, 2, kickout. Kroffat hoists Kikuchi onto his
shoulders again. Another fallaway slam? No, Kroffat drops Kikuchi to the
mat, holding his right leg and arm, drives his knee into Kikuchi's low back
and stretches him. "Ki-ku-chi!" Kroffat releases, drops a knee to the low
back, a second one, a third one. Puts on the bow and arrow hold. Kobashi
comes in, leg drops Kroffat. Kroffat tags. Furnas whips Kikuchi to the
ropes, goes for a clothesline, Kikuchi ducks, Kikuchi comes off the ropes
and hits a leg lariat. Kikuchi tags Kobashi! Crowd goes wild. Kobashi kicks
Furnas, backs him to the ropes, whip to opposite ropes, kick under the
chin. Kroffat rushes in and gets a kick under his chin for good luck.
Kobashi slams Furnas, slams Kroffat, backs Furnas to the corner, slapping
and chopping him. Kroffat breaks it up with a knee to the back. They pound
Kobashi (clubbering!?). Furnas & Kroffat go for a double clothesline,
Kobashi ducks, Kobashi hits a double clothesline on his opponents. Kroffat
tumbles out of the ring. Kobashi back suplexes Furnas. (6:00) 1, 2,
kickout. Kobashi lifts Furnas, back to corner, whip to other corner,
follows in with clothesline, climbs ropes for a DDT. Kroffat comes in and
pulls him off; Kobashi takes a bump like he's been shot. Furnas
clotheslines Kobashi. 1, 2, kickout. Furnas slams Kobashi, tags Kroffat.
Diving body press off the top rope, Kobashi raises his knees. Kobashi wants
to tag, Kroffat holds his legs, they rise to their feet, with Kroffat still
holding a leg. Kobashi stretches for the tag and immediately hits an
enzuigiri, dropping Kroffat, who is immediately hit with a diving head butt
off the top by Kikuchi. 1, 2, kickout (7:30) Kikuchi hits a fisherman
suplex on Kroffat. 1, 2, kickout. Kikuchi punches Kroffat, whips him to the
buckle, Kroffat reverses, charges in with a superkick that looks more
brutal than any superkick we've seen in recent years anywhere. Kroffat goes
for a tiger driver (double underhook power bomb), Kobashi comes in, Kroffat
nails him, dumps him over the top, signals again for tiger driver, but
Kikuchi drops to his knees to block it. Furnas comes in, puts Kikuchi on
his shoulders, Kroffat comes off the top with a clothesline (LOD/Road
Warriors finisher, but better looking). 1, 2, kickout. Kroffat & Furnas
hassle the referee over the count. (8:45) Kroffat elbows Kobashi on the
apron, Kroffat puts cobra sleeper on Kikuchi, shakes him like a rag doll;
it looks brutally vicious. Kobashi wants in to save, but Furnas cuts him
off, holding him in his corner. Kroffat lifts a crumpling Kikuchi and
shakes him some more, Kobashi breaks free, double axe handle to Kroffat,
Kroffat releases a little; a kick from Kobashi, but Kroffat still holds on.
Furnas tackles Kobashi and takes him outside. Kroffat releases the hold,
lifts Kikuchi, and takes him to the corner. Outside, Kobashi reverses a
whip into the guard rail, Furnas goes down, crowd goes nuts. Kroffat chops
Kikuchi in opposite corner, lifts him to the top rope for a superplex,
starts to climb ropes. Kobashi catches Kroffat, takes him off the ropes,
sitting on Kobashi's shoulders. Kikuchi hits a top rope dropkick. "Missile
kick! Soooo-per missssssile kiiiiiick!" Kobashi suplexes Kikuchi onto
Kroffat. 1, 2, kickout. Kikuchi tags Kobashi. Kobashi whips Kroffat to the
ropes, goes for his flying shoulder block, but Kroffat catches him and hits
a face buster. Kroffat staggers for tag to Furnas. Furnas whips Kobashi to
the ropes, Kroffat is still in the ring, so he drops to the mat and Kobashi
runs over him, coming and going, Frankensteiner! Kroffat is on his feet,
having stayed in the ring to block Kikuchi's save, but Kikuchi is one step
ahead, coming off the top rope immediately to break up the pin. Kroffat
kicks Kikuchi out of the ring and returns to his own corner. "Ko-ba-shi!"
Furnas tags Kroffat, chop, Kroffat backs Kobashi into the corner, whip to
opposite corner, reversal by Kobashi, Kobashi follows in, Kroffat hits a
high kick, charges Kobashi for a clothesline, Kobashi hits a high kick in
counter, Kroffat staggers, but charges again, Kobashi hits a power slam. 1,
2, kickout. (11:15) Kobashi lifts Kroffat, slams him, signals for the
moonsault, climbs ropes. Furnas comes in, holds Kobashi, but Kikuchi
charges and takes out Furnas, tossing him to the floow. Moonsault! Kroffat
rolls out of the way! Kroffat hooks his feet under Kobashi arms, in his
armpits, while Kobashi is lying face down after the failed moonsault,
Kroffat flips him over and bridges backwards over him for the beautiful
pin. 1, 2, kickout. (12:00) Kroffat whips Kobashi to the rope, back drop
attempt, Kobashi counters with a sunset flip, Kroffat somersaults over and
tries to roll up Kobashi, who hits a head scissors, but Kroffat cartwheels
through and charges with a clothesline on a rising Kobashi, who blocks with
his forearms, hits Kroffat, and nails a double underhook DDT.
"Dee-Deee-Teeeeeeeee!" 1, 2, kickout. Cut to Kikuchi & Furnas both lying on
the floor at ringside, out of it. (12:30) Kobashi slams Kroffat, climbs the
ropes, hits the moonsault. 1, Furnas tries to get in, 2, Kikuchi holds him
back, 3! Kikuchi & Kobashi win the tag titles.
[Image] The thing that is most striking when you watch Kroffat & Furnas in
Japan is that they rarely have one guy sitting on the apron twiddling his
thumbs, holding the tag rope, and getting the crowd to clap in support,
like they've been doing since they came into the WWF. They were non-stop
action after the building period of every match in All Japan. The
complexity of some of the spots, surely helped by having tremendous
opponents capable of those spots, is striking. The frequent reversals, last
ditch saves, etc., really stand out from the pack. Maybe I'll dig for
another match that highlights Kroffat's booking ability (he put together
his own finishes). The thing about the above match is that both teams come
out of the match incredibly strong, something that North American bookers
seem incapable of putting together except under rare circumstances.
[ - ] WCW comes to Montreal, Quebec, making a rare visit to Canada, on
04/11/97. Planned matches include:
* Giant vs. French Canadian Pierre in a "patch match," where each
wrestler wears an eye patch
* Harlem Heat vs. Faces of Fear
* Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger
* Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko
Several matches with local wrestlers will also be added.
[ - ] New Japan has a Tokyo Dome show on 04/12/97. Featured line-up
includes:
* Jushin Liger vs. Great Sasuke
* Great Muta vs. Masa Chono
[ - ] ECW has their first PPV on 04/13/97, airing from the ECW Arena from
9pm to 11:55pm. Tentative line-up includes:
* Sabu vs. Taz
* Terry Funk vs. Sandman vs. Stevie Richards in a triangle match for a
title shot against Raven later in the show
* Shane Douglas vs. Pit Bull #2 for the TV Title
* Great Sasuke & Gran Naniwa & Gran Hamada vs. Dick Togo & Taka
Michinoku & Terry Boy
It should be no surprise that the Michinoku Pro match, worked on three
mid-February dates, was just awesome.
The affiliated (?) ECV is also rumoured to be trying to get on PPV.
Viewer's Choice has revealed their total hypocrisy by saying that they
would consider airing a second ECW PPV they problems that they had on paper
with the first show were cleaned up. This has to translate to "if the first
show draws a good buy rate."
[ - ] The WWF has [In Your House ] on 04/20/97.
[ - ] [Nitro ] beat [RAW ] on 03/03 with a 3.4 rating against a 1.9 rating.
The big difference between the two companies is that Nitro's rating builds
during the two hours. The 1.5 rating difference is amongst the biggest in
history (other 1.5s: 01/20/97, 10/28/96, 09/16/96; 1.6 difference:
12/23/96, 2.0 difference: 12/30/96). The detailed ratings are a click away.
[ - ] The PPV buy rates of the past six months (year or so) show that the
WWF has an average buy rate of 0.49 (0.59) and average gross of
$1.30-million ($1.59-million), while WCW has an average buy rate of 0.68
(0.64) and average gross of $1.97-million ($1.90-million).
The details as they stand are available.
[ - ] The WWF has [In Your House ] on 05/11/97.
[ - ] The WWF has King of The Ring on 06/08/97.
[ - ] The WWF has [In Your House ] on 07/06/97.
[ - ] The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/03/97.
[ - ] The WWF has [In Your House ] on 09/07/97.
[ - ] The WWF has [In Your House ] on 10/05/97.
[ - ] The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/09/97.
[ - ] The WWF has [In Your House ] on 12/07/97.
[ - ] WWW: My home page is at http://barrow.uwaterloo.ca/~hekunze. The
wrestling portion includes this post, tape lists, awards history,
Japanese wrestling stuff, and other things.
[ - ] Videos: I have posted something about the availability of videos. If
you missed it, I'll send it to you in e-mail upon request.
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Thanks to: Masaki Aso.
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E-mail: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca